What would you do? Customer claims never got package two months later...

Okay so I have an ecommerce store and also sell on ebay. I just had a customer contact me yesterday, very vague email said I never got my package and left a tracking number, left me no other info such as name, order number, nothing.

I wind up tracking the package and digging through past orders and manage to find his order. He ordered back on November 22, 2012, package. Tracking shows package was delivered November 23, 2012.

Order shows delivered, I know post office could have delivered to wrong house and had the guy contacted me prompty I may have even sent another package but two months later seems extreme. He is out of his paypal and ebay period to get a refund or leave feedback.

What would you do, give refund or tell him it shows delivered and he took to long to say anything? I told him not only shows delivered but why wait two months to bring this to our attention. He now is trying to say the package came back to me and I kept it. I told him tracking would show it was returned.

btw, item was about $80 to replace item would cost me about $50. WHat would you have done?

He is out of his paypal and ebay period to get a refund or leave feedback.

What would you do

I would tell him tough titty. There is an established time frame for the very reason you said. Records get old, memories fade, etc.

Could you even file a claim with the shipping company on a transaction that old?

I would reply with something like: "Tracking shows the package was delivered on ..... It has been over 60 days since your package was delivered. I apologize that I can not be of further assistance."       You are not responsible at this point so just leave it at that. Most likely he did receive it and misplaced it and if he didn't then he should have asked sooner.

Could you even file a claim with the shipping company on a transaction that old?

I would think with USPS, Fedex, or UPS thta would be past deadlines however I ship USPS and their clains process is a joke so it woudn't even be worth opening up a claim. If it comes to me having to open a USPS claim I'll just go ahead and refund the customer or send a new package and if I ever get the package back cool if not I just consider it cost of doing business. OVerall usps is very good but if you have an issue forget about it.

thanks for the tips guys, yeah I basically told the guy a. the package shows it was deliverd. b. i know post office does make mistakes and had he contacted me in a timely manner heck I may have even helped him out either with a refund or reshipping a package which would be cheaper for me than a refund. i told him two months had passed and if there was an issue he should have brought it up in a timely manner. he accused me of getting the package back and keepiong it however i told him if that wer the case tracking woudnt' show delivered it would show attempted delivery and then show it being rerouted back to my addrss. the guy never contacted me after that and seemed to give up pretty easy so wondering if he was just trying to get a freebie. it was through ebay and not my site so over 45 days had passed so he had no recourse through paypal or ebay and sinc it wasnt through my website and i dont openly advertise our eba store as our business there's really no negative publicity either so thats how ti went down. in general im happy to come out of my pcoket to make a customer happy but im not going to be taken advantage of or let people come back months later with complaints or aying they didnt receive anything

Bad News/Good News...About a year ago I sold 3 items (packed in two priority large flat ate boxes)...tracking #'s said they were delivered... 3 weeks later he messages me " ummm,have you shipped the boxes"?...huh,what?... I say yep they've been delivered per tracking... actually a nice guy after several phone conversations,...( and me going to my Post office several times)I believe he didn't get them...so he got his $263.00 plus $30.00 (shipping) total investment back from me...AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!... but it was the right thing to do...that was in Feb,2012...... sometime in JULY,2012,guess what?... TWO boxes show up on my doorstep  marked UNDELIVERABLE !!!! again HUH,WHAT??called the guy and offered them again,he passed...so now the GOOD NEWS... relisted them..all 3 items sold within three weeks ( BIN/Make Offer)...Total Sales amount second time around...$470.00 + shipping  ... karma?luck?who knows...

That's awesome......more often than not, you're just out everything.... congratulations!

Bad News/Good News...About a year ago I sold 3 items (packed in two priority large flat ate boxes)...tracking #'s said they were delivered... 3 weeks later he messages me " ummm,have you shipped the boxes"?...huh,what?... I say yep they've been delivered per tracking... actually a nice guy after several phone conversations,...( and me going to my Post office several times)I believe he didn't get them...so he got his $263.00 plus $30.00 (shipping) total investment back from me...AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!... but it was the right thing to do...that was in Feb,2012...... sometime in JULY,2012,guess what?... TWO boxes show up on my doorstep  marked UNDELIVERABLE !!!! again HUH,WHAT??called the guy and offered them again,he passed...so now the GOOD NEWS... relisted them..all 3 items sold within three weeks ( BIN/Make Offer)...Total Sales amount second time around...$470.00 + shipping  ... karma?luck?who knows...

with me everything over 250 gets a signature but im the same way, i know post office makes mistakes if someone were to claim package never arrived a week or two later and seemed genuine id probably replace the package instead of refund as thats less money out my pocket obviuosly my items cost me less than i sell them for. i figured after two months though the guy should have had time to contact me so just wasn't willing to budge. also it was out of the paypal and ebay coverage periodl

with me everything over 250 gets a signature

I believe it's also now required by eBay or else you forfeit your seller protection rights on that sale.